Golf

Today In WTF: Teen Golfer Loses Eligibility, $5,000 In Charity Competition

by Timothy Burke | 12:14 pm, August 31st, 2011

It started with ten bucks.

That’s what the uncle of Andrew Vold, a high school senior from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, gave him to take one shot at a hole-in-one during a charity tournament at Majestic Oaks Golf Course in nearby Ham Lake. The prize for a successful ace? $5,000, a sum Vold said he’d use toward his freshman year tuition at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Vold hadn’t ever hit a hole-in-one. The sponsor of the tournament says he still hasn’t.

The Pioneer Press reports tournament sponsor John W. Schierman is refusing to pay up despite Vold’s claim of winning the competition. In Vold’s words:

The hole official was right there. She was a girl that was about 18 to 20 years old. She saw the divot, and she saw it go into the cup. We saw her watching it. People from the next hole watched it and cheered. We saw her get on the phone and call someone after it went in.

Schierman claims the hole-in-one never happened and that the hole official — whose identity he won’t reveal — did not sign the required affidavit for him to recover the $5,000 from an insurance company he claims he bonded the prize against.

Even worse, Vold’s participation in the tournament violated Minnesota high school athletics rules, and he’s been declared ineligible for competition in his senior year. That’s not because money was involved; it’s due to a rule stating athletes “may not participate as an individual competitor or as a member of a non-school team in the same sport during the high school season.”

It gets even worse. The charity for whose benefit the tournament was held (the Andover High School swim team) was supposed to receive half the $5,000 prize, a split that wasn’t announced anywhere at the tournament. They haven’t gotten their money, either.

In the end, you have a high school kid who thought he’d won $5,000 but actually won $2,500 and who the tournament sponsor says has won nothing, a charity that thought they’d be getting a $2,500 windfall but haven’t seen a dime, and John W. Schierman, who hasn’t shown a whole lot of integrity.

Adam Silverman

I understand the school rules and why they have them in place. My question is, did Andrew Vold actually participate in a game of golf? A full game of golf is specifically defined, especially at the competitive level. Mr. Vold hit one ball. He was not given followup attempts to get the ball in the hole. He didn’t have to walk to the next holes. He didn’t have to decide if it would be better to, say, drop the ball before a sand trap and then use a 7 iron to reach the green as opposed to dropping the ball on the far side of the trap and then use a 9 iron to reach the green. He never had to get on his knees to check the slope of the green so he’d know which way his putt would roll. He never had to worry about his stamina level, never had to worry that after hitting the ball dozens of times his arms or legs would begin to tire. Basically, he didn’t play a game of golf. He hit a ball with a golf club.

A baseball pitcher who throws a single ball at a charity dunking tank hasn’t played a game of baseball any more than this kid has played a game of golf. Let Andrew Vold play his senior year!
JudgeandJury

It’s on the high school athlete to know what the requirements are to stay eligible.

It’s on the tournament sponsor to provide the rules of determining who wins. If someone fulfills those rules then they win, regardless of whether a judge does the right paperwork later.

It’s not clear if the charity was promised half the money no matter what, or half only if someone won. If it’s half if someone won, then they have to wait for the winner to be declared.

So essentially I see a lot mistakes made on all sides here.
Efawefqf

judge you suck bss
JJameson

You clearly lack a simple understanding of contracts.